A sailor who had to text coastguards so they could rescue him was criticised today.

The skipper of the 27ft open-decked boat Boy John sparked a major search when coastguards lost contact him somewhere in the North Sea yesterday.

He had set off poorly-equipped yesterday morning, according to Coastguards, from Peterhead in Aberdeenshire, bound for Scrabster in Caithness more than 100 miles away.

A member of the public rang in to warn both radios on board were not working and the owner, who lives in Thurso, only had a mobile phone to communicate.

Aberdeen Coastguard said the vessel was previously known to them, and had no relevant charts, no flares and an anchor that was unattached to the boat.

Rescuers managed to contact the owner during the early part of the journey, but said he seemed "very confused" about his position.

Contact was then lost, sparking a major rescue effort involving four lifeboats, a helicopter and a total of eight rescue teams.

At one point coastguards sent the owner a text on his mobile phone asking him to dial 999.

He got in touch which allowed his rough position to be worked out.

The boat was eventually found early on Monday morning in Pentland Firth.

Aberdeen Coastguard said the occupant actually thought he was around 75 miles to the south west in the Dornoch Firth.

He has since been escorted into Orkney.

Matthew Mace, watch manager at Aberdeen Coastguard, said: "We are very concerned that such a vessel, which could be better described as a pleasure vessel than a fishing vessel, has such poor quality equipment on board and which clearly has not been maintained.

"The owner also did not have a clue about where he was. This greatly concerns us that besides putting himself at risk, he could have been a hazard to other shipping and of course has put pressure on the marine rescue services in all its forms in order to maintain his safety cover."

Mr Mace asked the owner to "reconsider" his seafaring activities, or "at least maintain his vessel and its life saving equipment and radio equipment to a standard expected by all responsible seafarers, and take suitable training in order to properly read a chart."